As the first ever GolfSixes tournament gets under way at Centurion Club in St Albans, some of the stars of the event joined local children to showcase how this dynamic team format can help to grow the junior game.
GolfSixes is the European Tour’s revolutionary new short form of golf, with two-man teams from 16 nations competing around a six-hole circuit for a prize fund of €1 million.
During Pro-Am Friday the Golf Foundation had a unique opportunity to stage its own junior GolfSixes team event, with some of the stars of the event joining local school children for a pitch and a putt over six specially constructed holes in the activity-packed fan zone at Centurion Club.
Team Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen and Lucas Bjerregaard were joined by Sam Brazel and Scott Hend of Team Australia to captain the four teams of five boys and girls taking part in the activity.
Following the inaugural GolfSixes, the Golf Foundation will be helping youngsters to emulate their European Tour heroes by piloting ‘GolfSixes Academy’ events in 32 golf clubs around England over the summer, employing the European Tour’s GolfSixes branding.
Playing the exciting team format over six holes, promising new young golfers will represent their golf clubs in a league against other local clubs while kitted out in team shirts. All of the clubs involved operate the Golf Foundation’s successful HSBC Golf Roots programme that helps young people to ‘Start, Learn and Stay’ in golf. The Golf Foundation was delighted to receive funding from Sport England to test out this new team format over fewer holes as a means of encouraging more young people to stay in the sport.
Brendon Pyle, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said: “The aim of the Golf Sixes Academy is to encourage more young people, supported by their parents, to enjoy the fun and competitive team atmosphere of golf, similar to other team sports such as football or netball, so that they want to play golf on a more regular basis.
“GolfSixes, with its team formats and kit, plus Texas scramble shotmaking for the kids and the family involvement, will be a great addition to our support for clubs and we are hugely grateful to the European Tour for allowing us to embrace the GolfSixes brand in this way. This is all very progressive and we wish all the players the best of luck in this inaugural event at Centurion Club.”
Frederik Lindgren, Head of Corporate Responsibility at the European Tour, said: “One of the main aims of the new GolfSixes concept is to attract more people to the sport, whether that is taking up the game themselves or as spectators.
“Through our existing relationship with the Golf Foundation, together we identified the GolfSixes Academy concept as a great way of bringing the GolfSixes format directly to young people in clubs across England, the host country of the first ever event, allowing the benefits of the format to extend beyond the opening weekend at Centurion Club.”
